Tuesday 26 April 2016

My Take - Yama by Kevin Missal

The 5 star rating is on the following criteria:

  Story/Concept/Plot             * 
Characterisation                   *
Language/Expression           *
Entertainment/Message        *
Publishing (job done or not)  *


If you grew up on regular dosage of Sherlock Holmes and Byomkesh Bakshi, you will instantly identify with Iravan and his geeky and resourceful assistant Vardhaan. But that's where the resemblance ends.

The novel explores the big question;  evil with an intention of good, can it be called evil?

That is what has been told in story of Iravan Rajpoot.

His past and present has led to this interesting story, woven along are the various atrocities prevalent in society. 

An ex-commander of Indian Army, he has been chosen as the protagonist, for a reason. His ticking mind, is thrown challenges one after another to save lives - of chosen civilians, and Vardhaan tries to help him do so. 
The civilians, representatives of the society, and Iravan a man in conflicts because he wants to see a change, in himself, in his surroundings. 

Does Iravan succeed in beating the evil villain?

The story interweaves, today's society and its concerns, crimes, with mythology and has sufficient sprinkling of spicy thrills.
Yama is a page-turner, written in a way to keep the reader hooked. I was happy to see, despite various plots and sub-plots, the author never slackened his hold on his characters and their actions.

Each chapter begins and ends with lines that push you to the edge, making keeping down the book difficult. It definitely makes an interesting read. A journey you would not regret, if you choose to undertake.

In not too many words, but many chapters a complex story has been woven.

In some places, narration does seem rushed. Too much pruning, has somehow stunted the growth. The author could have taken some time to add on to the thrills of action, and could have played with a little more emotion and dilemma of the protagonist, given his family background that has been created. A little unbelievable was Yama's agile action, given the end. (Don't want spoilers.)  

I had expected the end to be a little more adrenaline rushing, but it turned out weak.  It could be because of the persistent confusion that we all have; is fighting evil with evil, right?

There were minor proofreading/printing glitches in few places, that can be easily rectified in the next editions.



On the above mentioned criteria I rate it ***1/2.


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Wednesday 6 April 2016

My Take- We’re Forever by Paridhi Newatia

The 5 star rating is on the following criteria:

  Story/Concept/Plot             * 
Characterisation                   *
Language/Expression           *
Entertainment/Message        *
Publishing (job done or not)  *

We’re Forever, is a fresh and unapologetic (language-wise) tale of new age lovers without too many romantic moments. The freshness is in the fast pace at which the episodes are portrayed. 

The story brings to us fantasy of every youngster in small Indian towns, highly influenced as they are by Hollywood and Bollywood.

Vidisha and Varun, meet during a small town college fest. 
Vidisha is a vibrant, young, hardworking, college going, entrepreneur. Varun is the quintessential charmer. 
They fall in love, brought together in beautifully described setups. 
They share sporadic, momentary, romantic times. We don't get to see the love blossoming between them, rather told. 
As they graduate out of college and move on with their careers, and future, hackneyed circumstances drive them apart. Vidisha refuses to believe, her prince charming cannot love her any more. With time he comes to his senses and they get together, Forever. 

As a romance novel, the actual romance, meetings of lovers fails to find place in the fast paced story.

The story focuses more on the high life Vidisha lives with her friends. Those episodes will definitely get teenagers all excited about living-it like Vidisha.

The character description, paints a picture in one’s head, but I found the traits antagonistic, so a little unbelievable.

Like the mother who gives Vidisha absolute ‘space’ in her personal life but the first proposal at the door, and she turns gooey eyed, visualizing her just-graduated daughter in bridal finery, and then, because the daughter wants, sees her off happily to America to pursue her dreams.
The tiff between the lovers seemed unnatural. Varun’s premise for breakup, might not be totally impossible, but considering the characters belong to Young India, confident, outgoing, all achieving; reason behind backing out of the relationship seemed weak. Also it’s a love story, show some love, fight for it!
Vidisha’s character, stumbles in and out of being heartbroken and deciding which fashionable cloth to wear.

The language is gripping but I couldn’t help but cringe at the excessive use of slangs. Granted its youth ‘lingo’, but could have easily been spared, especially as it is a written work.

The last 60 pages of the book seem hurried, impatient, at places confused.

There were some proofreading errors, and some confusion in portrayal of couple of incidents.

Teenagers and young adults, wishing to recapture their fantasies can browse through the book, as a story- it’s been there, done that. 


On the above criteria I rate **1/2



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